About a half a mile off the road, Darlene Rosas sits on a grassy hill littered with broken lawnmowers, used mattresses and rusty automobiles in front of the condemned trailer where she lives alone without any running water and barely any heat. With the nearest town 40 minutes away by car, Rosas relies on neighbors for food and water when her old Chevrolet breaks down. Earlier that day, she had fallen asleep in the front seat of her car, doing crossword puzzles in the broiling sun, a better place to than being in her boarded up home. She receives a disability check of around $800 a month which she uses to support her daughter, who has kidney failure and her son who is unemployed. She says living on the reservation is a Catch 22. “If you have a job, you lose benefits. If you live on welfare, you become a victim of the system.”

Your Story

Share your story of hope and hard times with us, how you survived, if someone helped you and what the experience has meant to you. We will publish some of our favorites.